Kirsty Wark – författare

''ORIGINAL AND ENTHRALLING'' Guardian''AFFECTING AND TENDER'' The Times''COMPLETELY ENCHANTING'' Penny Vincenzi

Elizabeth Pringle lived all her long life on the Scottish island of Arran. But did anyone really know her? In her will she leaves her beloved house, Holmlea, to a stranger - a young mother she''d seen pushing a pram down the road over thirty years ago. It now falls to Martha, once the baby in that pram, to answer the question: why? Martha is coping with her mother''s dementia and the possibility of a new life on Arran could be a new start.

A captivating story for fans of Rosamund Pilcher, Maeve Binchy and Rachel Joyce of the richness behind the so-called ordinary lives of women and the secrets and threads that hold them together.

And Kirsty Wark''s second novel, The House by the Loch, a story of unlikely love and long-hidden family secrets set in the beautiful Scottish countryside, is out now.

A Scottish Number One Bestseller and Book of the Month.A novel of family drama and long-hidden secrets, set in the beautiful Scottish countryside, from the bestselling author of The Legacy of Elizabeth Pringle.

''Evocatively drawn'' Sunday Times | ''Rich, layered and compelling, Wark''s debut was impressive; with this novel she has really hit her stride'' Yorkshire Post | ''A deeply satisfying work of pure imagination'' Damian Barr, author of You Will Be Safe Here | ''Beautiful and atmospheric'' Alistair Moffat, author of The Hidden Ways |''Rich and pleasing'' Allan Massie, The Scotsman | ''Beautifully written'' Daily Mail | ''One to savour'' Sunday Express | ''An epic masterpiece'' Philippa Perry Scotland, 1950sWalter MacMillan is bewitched by the clever, glamorous Jean Thompson and can''t believe his luck when she agrees to marry him. Neither can she, for Walter represents a steady and loving man who can perhaps quiet the demons inside her. Yet their home on remote Loch Doon soon becomes a prison for Jean and neither a young family, nor Walter''s care, can seem to save her.

Many years later, Walter is with his adult children and adored grandchildren on the shores of Loch Doon where the family has been holidaying for two generations. But the shadows of the past stretch over them and will turn all their lives upside down on one fateful weekend.

The House by the Loch is the story of a family in all its loving complexity, and the way it can, and must, remake itself endlessly in order to make peace with the past.

''Powerful and compelling'' Sue Lawrence | ''Her understanding of family - its mysteries, losses and secrets - is masterful'' Julie Myerson